Ricciardo aims to pressure Mercedes pair

Daniel Ricciardo says he hopes Red Bull will have the pace in Canada to apply the pressure on rivals Mercedes, as he chases his first win of the year.

Red Bull has emerged as Mercedes' closest challenger across recent races, with Ricciardo on course for victory in Monaco until a pit blunder dropped the Australian behind Lewis Hamilton.

Ricciardo took his maiden Grand Prix victory at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2014 and the Red Bull driver is optimistic that he can rebound from the disappointment of Monaco with a win.

"I think realistically Mercedes will be as expected, the ones to beat," he said.

"I hope we can be the next best. But it’s hard. Ferrari has been there and surprised us, and been less surprising on some occasions.

"I believe we’ll be second to Mercedes. I don’t know how close. Hopefully close enough to put pressure on and grab a win."

Ricciardo explained that he needed a period of time to come to terms with the events of Monaco, and has been reassured by Red Bull that the error will not happen again.

"I gave it a few days to cool off," he said. "I definitely felt after the race that I wasn’t in a place… probably no one was really in a place, to try to resolve what happened.

"For me it was about getting away for a few days, then addressing what happened once we’d cooled and settled. I spoke to various people in the team and they explained what happened at the time and the situation.

"Obviously it’s important to hear the explanation and how to move on, make sure it doesn’t happen again.

"They’ve done a lot of things since then. They’ve set up some new parameters that will happen before and during pit-stops, to make sure tyres are ready and various compounds are ready at once. From my side I’ve moved on."